Number of U.S. elderly to double by 2050 -reports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of people age 65 and older
in the United States is expected to almost double by 2050, a
shift that is expected to drastically alter the nation's racial
makeup and pressure its economy, two government reports released
on Tuesday said.

Those older U.S. residents are expected grow from 43 million
in 2012 to nearly 84 million over the next four decades as the
baby boomer generation ages, the Census Bureau said in its
latest estimate.

One in 5 of the nation's population will be 65 or older by
2030, the year by which all baby boomers - named for the "boom"
in U.S. births in the years following the Second World War - hit
the unofficial retirement age, the Census Bureau found.

By 2056, its researchers expect another milestone: The
number of U.S. seniors will be larger than the number of those
age 18 and younger.

"The projected growth of the older population in the United
States will present challenges to policy makers and programs,
such as Social Security and Medicare. It will also affect
families, businesses and health care providers," researchers
wrote.

At the same time, as boomers age and die, their decline is
expected to spur dramatic changes as the mostly white generation
makes way for an increasingly diverse younger population.

Currently, there are about 76 million boomers. That number
is expected to drop to 60 million by 2030 and just 2.4 million
by 2060, researchers estimated.

"This pattern, coupled with increases in immigration and
births to minority populations, is projected to produce an
increasingly diverse population in the years to come," they
wrote.

The number of births among racial minorities recently
surpassed that of white births, and officials estimate that
non-whites will make up the majority of the U.S. population by
2060.

Census, in its reports on Tuesday, said while boomers
generally reflect the mostly white composition of the United
States between 1946 and 1964, the nation's older population is
also expected to diversify somewhat, in part due to differing
life expectancies as well as immigration.

Researchers estimated that by 2050, 39 percent of those age
65 and older will be black, Hispanic, Asian or other racial
minority, up from about 21 percent in 2012, the latest available
year for census projections data.

Like the overall U.S. population, older Hispanics are
expected to see the greatest increase, according to the report.

Even as the United States braces for its demographic
evolution, "it is still younger than most other developed
countries," researchers added.

Other countries such as Japan, Germany and Italy are also
facing graying populations expected to make up more than
one-quarter of their total residents by 2030, Census said. In
comparison, just 20 percent of those in the United States will
be age 65 and older.

SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/1qbg0Pb and
http://1.usa.gov/1nhmvhq U.S. Census Bureau Current Population
Reports, May 2014.